Troubleshoot Adobe Application Manager download and installation issues

Adobe Application Manager (AAM) is a helper application used to manage the installation of many Adobe products.

If you have a Creative Cloud membership, the Adobe Application Manager will automatically update to the Creative Cloud desktop app, as long as you are running macOS 10.7 or later, or Windows 7 or later. If you are running older operating systems, such as Windows XP or macOS 10.6, you'll use the Adobe Application Manager (AAM) to manage your Creative Cloud downloads and installations.

You can launch AAM manually from the Applications folder (macOS), or the Start  > All Programs menu (Windows). 

Use your Adobe ID to sign in to your Adobe ID account, your Creative Cloud membership, or the Adobe Application Manager. Your Adobe ID is usually the email address you used to create your account.

If you are having trouble signing in to your Adobe ID account or Creative Cloud, follow these troubleshooting steps:

AAM is installed the first time you download a Creative Cloud app or trial from the Creative Cloud apps catalog. If the AAM’s download and installation process does not begin automatically, try these troubleshooting steps.

Important: During the download and installation process, accept security dialogs presented, or provide administrator credentials requested.

Adobe Application Manager installs the AdobeAAMDetect plug-in to your web browser. To function properly, this plug-in requires that you restart the web browser. If you do not restart the web browser, the plug-in is not detected, prompting you to download AAM again.

During AAM download and installation, your computer could appear to freeze while waiting for the download process to complete. For information on the amount of time required to download products, see Estimated download times.

Upon launch, AAM verifies your Adobe ID and obtains a list of products to download. During this process, a waiting dialog appears. This process takes no more than a few minutes.

During download or installation of a Creative Cloud app, your computer could appear to freeze while the process completes. The speed of your computer and Internet connection determines how long this process takes. For information on the amount of time required to download products, see Estimated download times.

If the download or install process actually freezes, try these solutions in order.

You can cancel the download and start a new download using AAM.

Try downloading a trial version of the app. See Download and install a Creative Cloud trial.

If AAM encounters an error that prevents the installation of a Creative Cloud app, you may see an “Installation Failed” message.

You can change the default location for installing the apps you download.

Here’s how.

Adobe Application Manager is required on your computer, as long as you have Creative Cloud applications installed. Adobe Application Manager performs multiple functions within all of the Creative Cloud products. Adobe Application Manager is automatically removed when you uninstall all Adobe Creative Cloud products. Upon removal of the last product, the Adobe Application Manager is uninstalled.

Important: Adobe offers a Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool, which removes the database entries but not the physical files associated with the installation. To remove all components, run the program uninstallers.

Adobe Application Manager does not currently support changing the download location. Files are downloaded to your temporary folder:

• Windows: %temp%
• macOS: /tmp